


Third Time's the Charm

by Hobbyist



Category: I Love Yoo (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-05-30 15:15:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19405924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hobbyist/pseuds/Hobbyist
Summary: Several months after the formal arc, Shin-Ae attempts another Hirahara party. (This was consistent with the story up to episode 89. After that it might start to diverge.)





	1. Chapter 1

Yeong-Gi stood a step away from a crowd that was surrounding Alyssa. He glanced at his phone, then absently took a glass handed to him by a passing waiter. "Water, sir?"

"Sure. Hot in here with all the guests, innit?"

Before he could take a sip, he noticed a small figure slipping through the sea of people milling around his family's mansion, and his eyebrows shot up. He waved a hand and called, "Shin-Ae!"

A look of recognition, followed shortly by relief, lit her features. She made her way across the room to meet him.

He studied her closely. "Did the girls come this time? What on Earth could possibly have convinced you to come to another Hirahara party?"

"They did come, actually." She noted his sigh of relief. "And they even agreed to meet me back here in two hours when they're done dancing and stalking hot guys."

When she didn't answer his second question immediately, he let the silence between them stretch until it became uncomfortable. Finally, she added, "Kousuke said I should come to practice what I learned in the etiquette classes."

Shin-Ae thought she might have heard Yeong-Gi curse under his breath. "Of course he did. That idiot has all the empathy of a fish."

She replied almost too quietly for him to hear, "Or he's helping me get past a hang-up that could hinder my career."

She fanned her face with her hand. Her high-necked, full-length black lace dress probably wasn't doing her any favors in this heat. He offered her the glass. "Just water."

She put it to her lips, then scanned the crowd while handing it back to him. He took his own quick gulp, and then they turned and stared into each other's eyes. Each was bearing the same half-disgusted, half-terrified expression. Shin-Ae began, "That tastes just like--"

"The revolting orange juice," Yeong-Gi finished.

"I was thinking the wings, but yeah."

"What the hell? How do you manage to get roofied at every party you attend?"

"It was your water! Who gave it to you?"

They were talking quickly now, and Shin-Ae could see Yeong-Gi thinking furiously, aware that oblivion might be closing in on them. "My father will murder me if he finds out about this. Yours too, maybe. But we only had a sip each. It might not be that bad."

He unlocked his phone and tapped out a few words. "I'm letting Alyssa know we're ghosting." He nodded toward the busy starlet, whose back was now to them while she worked the crowd. "You do the same for the girls." 

She started typing while he placed a hand on her lower back and guided her discreetly toward a staircase. "Where are we going?"

"This is my family's house, remember? We're going to get away from the crowd before something dangerous happens. There's a whole wing that won't be open to the guests."

In a matter of minutes, they arrived at what Shin-Ae realized was an abandoned set of rooms. Even the furniture was covered in drop cloths.

Yeong-Gi led them into a parlor with only one door, closed it, and locked it. "We'll be safe here. How are you feeling?"

"I'm not sure. Not bad--not yet." Shin-Ae threw a sheet off the room's only couch and dropped onto it. 

Yeong-Gi landed beside her. "Same. We might get out of this one unscathed."

"Don't jinx it. And keep your phone handy. We can call our friends if it starts to hit us." Shin-Ae didn't think it was becoming a problem yet. She felt relaxed, more comfortable than she had since she'd struggled into the complicated dress. She giggled. "I am never coming to another one of your parties again. Screw my career."

Yeong-Gi was starting to sprawl. He laughed too, and Shin-Ae wondered if that was the right response to a situation like this one. "If I ever see you at one again, I'm leaving immediately. Not worth the risk being in the same room as you." He loosened his tie and pulled the top button on his shirt free. "Maybe they don't have the AC on back here. It's really hot."

Shin-Ae began unbuttoning her dress's collar. "Yeah, seriously." For some reason, she couldn't look away from the spot where Yeong-Gi's collar bones met, where the knot of his tie had been a minute ago. Then she realized he was staring at the same spot on her neck. She giggled again. She seemed to remember she was supposed to avoid feelings like this, but couldn't remember why.

Yeong-Gi slid sideways until he was lying on his side, his head coming to rest in her lap. "Feeling kinda sleepy. Think we can sleep it off?"

She ran her hand through his hair, and his eyes snapped open. She couldn't stop giggling. "Your hair is so fluffy. Like a puppy."

He rolled onto his back, and reached one hand up languidly to tug on a lock of her hair that had slipped its bun. "Yours is just lovely."

She felt her heartbeat quicken, and the jolt helped her to wake up a little. "Alyssa." It was flat, a reminder.

Yeong-Gi's eyes looked more focused too. "I broke up with her, the night you... fell. We're back to just being buddies. It's a lot better this way."

She felt a twist in her heart. "Dieter," she whispered, reluctantly.

Now Yeong-Gi looked puzzled. "I thought you knew. Maya asked him on a date last weekend. They, um, hit it off." He was speaking delicately, as if afraid his news might hurt her.

She could have felt many emotions in response to that bombshell. But she mainly felt a wave of relief wash over her, and she was sure it showed on her face, not least because she noticed its echo show up a moment later in Yeong-Gi's smile.

"That means..." She paused, unsure how to continue, hoping he would supply an answer.

But he let his hand fall, brushing her cheek in passing, and turned away onto his side again. "Let's sleep this off. There are lines I'm not going to cross if you're not in your right mind."

"I'm pretty sure I'm in my right mind," she said firmly, and she felt him startle. "Are you in yours?"

He sat up slowly and looked into her eyes. "I don't know, but I know what I'm feeling now, I've felt every day for months when I've been near you."

She realized he still wasn't sure whether she was intoxicated, and wasn't going to close the last few inches himself. She did instead, placing her hand on his thigh, leaning forward, and kissing his cheek. She gave him a crooked smile. "No more. So you can't say I took advantage of you when you were drugged."

He visibly restrained himself, cleared his throat, stood up, and went over to a rug to lie down. "If I'm going to be a gentleman tonight, I'm going to have to stay over here. Maybe--maybe it would be good for you to button your collar back up."

She lay down, her heart pounding furiously, closed her eyes, and proceeded not to sleep for an hour.


	2. Chapter 2

At some point she realized how stupid it had been to wander off alone with a guy whose drink had roofied her to an isolated, locked room. It had turned out alright, but not because she was behaving intelligently. She had also crossed a line she hadn't thought she wanted to cross, inviting a relationship that would distract from her studies. But it felt like something she had been needing for a long time.

She must have finally drifted off, because she woke to the sound of Yeong-Gi stirring. He sat up and looked at her appraisingly. "How much do you remember?"

She adopted a look of concern. "Not much after I texted the girls. Though for some reason my dress is unbuttoned? I don't think Dieter was here, but I dreamed about him..." She trailed off, doing her best to imply the worst and look suitably embarrassed.

She almost broke the facade when she saw the light fade from Yeong-Gi's eyes, and then the line of his jaw set. "Yeah, same, I think we just crashed."

"Was there a puppy though? I'm so confused." She stood and wandered toward his rug, as though searching for one.

She saw one of his fists clench. "You must have had some crazy dreams. No dogs."

Dropping down suddenly beside him, she smiled gently. "You're the most stupidly considerate person I know." She kissed him again, this time squarely on the mouth. For a second he went rigid, and then he reached for her, at first gently, and then more hungrily.

...

He wanted to drive her back to her place, but she declined. "My dad has a long-standing and inflexible policy of violence toward any guy who touches me. Besides, don't you have your summer job to get to?"

"So you're not going to tell him we're a thing now?"

"No, I will, just very carefully to avoid the violence."

She turned, thinking he was letting her go, but then she heard him take a step toward her and felt his hands on her waist, turning her back to him. He kissed her mouth, then her forehead. "I can't believe it. This feels like a dream. Can I see you tonight?"

She smiled. "I know what you mean. And yes, text me after work."

"Can I text you during work too?"

Shin-Ae laughed, drinking in his eager smile, which she wouldn't see for a whole twelve hours. "Yes, but get some work done, too. And I need to study."

Finally he let her go. Luckily plenty of people were still leaving the party in the early hours of the morning. She went out the front door toward a line of waiting taxis.

...

Yeong-Gi raced up the stairs to Shin-Ae's apartment, sweating in the summer heat under his suit jacket. He frantically hunted through his messages again for any sign she had replied, then toggled airplane mode once more in a vain attempt to generate nonexistent messages from her.

It didn't make sense. When she had left, he hadn't sensed any misgivings on her part. She had seemed happy that they'd finally given in to the tension between them. So why had she completely ignored his texts? He skimmed them once more in search of a clue, some fatal mistake he must have made.

\- Morning! I know it's only been 30 minutes, but I miss you. The driver got me here in record time.  
\- Were you able to take a nap? I've only been here an hour, and ready to collapse. Sang-Chul late as always.  
\- Just took a break to grab a snack. Don't forget to eat, I think it helps with the recovery from that stuff.  
\- Are you ok?  
\- Sorry, I know you're probably studying on your day off, but I can't stop thinking about you. I know I'm being annoying, I'll shut up.  
\- <3  
\- You ok? Do you have your phone with you?  
\- When is ok for me to stop by tonight? Did your dad take everything alright?  
\- I'll head straight to your place from work. I'm worried about you.  
\- Please say something? Let me know if I shouldn't come over?  
\- Ok, headed out, see you soon.

In a last desperate attempt, he called her, but it went straight to voicemail. Then he was at the door to her apartment, knocking.

Her father opened the door almost immediately. "Shh, someone's sleep--oh, it's you." The older man's voice went very flat, and his eyes narrowed.

Yeong-Gi felt a sense of hope--maybe she'd slept all day?--and then realized he had no idea what to say. "Uh, good evening sir, is Shin-Ae here?"

"Leave. Now. Don't come back."

So maybe she had told him?


	3. Chapter 3

Yeong-Gi took a beat to figure out how to react to the menace in Mr. Yoo's tone, and in that moment, the older man stepped toward him. "If you're not out of here in the next minute, I'm calling the police."

"Hang on, let's not get carried away." Yeong-Gi held up his hands and offered what he hoped was a conciliatory smile. "So, um, I guess Shin-Ae talked with you? Is she doing ok?"

"Aside from a black eye," Mr. Yoo snarled, and Yeong-Gi's stomach plummeted. He had thought that Shin-Ae's talk of her father's violence was facetious. And he had never imagined it could be directed toward her.

Yeong-Gi took a step forward, unconsciously standing up straighter. The space between them was small now. His own voice was suddenly hoarse. "What did you do to her, you--"

Mr. Yoo's volume ratcheted up several decibels. "How dare you speak to me like that!" Yeong-Gi could see the blood vessels in his eyes.

Shin-Ae, indeed sporting a nasty shiner, came careening out of the apartment. Yeong-Gi's heart contracted when he saw the injury. Her hair was in a lopsided, messy ponytail, so she was presumably fresh from a nap. She took in the confrontation with a glance. "I heard the angry voices. What are you two DOING?"

For a moment neither of the men seemed to know how to react to that. Yeong-Gi found his footing first. "Shin-Ae, come with me, we've gotta get you out of here."

"Over my dead body," her father countered.

"Why would I need to leave?" Shin-Ae asked Yeong-Gi. "And Papa, why are you being so hostile to my..." She searched briefly for a word. "My friend?"

Yeong-Gi was again faster to the draw. "To get you somewhere safe!"

Mr. Yoo responded with deep sarcasm, "You mean to tell me she'd be safer with you."

"Yeah, well at least I'm not going to hit her!"

Understanding began to dawn on Shin-Ae's features. "Whoa whoa whoa, let's slow down. Just so we're clear, no one here--except possibly me--is responsible for my injury."

Yeong-Gi drew in a sharp breath. He had to make sure she wasn't somehow blaming herself for provoking her dad. "So how did you get a black eye?"

"Yes," Mr. Yoo said, desperation entering his tone, "now will you tell me?"

Shin-Ae looked back and forth between them, wearing an expression of rapid thought. "Come inside, let's not give the neighbors a show," she suggested, and turned to lead the way.

Mr. Yoo glowered at Yeong-Gi, unwilling to accept his innocence too readily, but allowed the young man to precede him into the apartment. Yeong-Gi got the distinct impression that he was being both followed and watched by the older man very closely.

When they got inside, Shin-Ae led the way to the kitchen table, where they all took a seat. "Everyone's safe from any misguided lunges here," she tried to joke, but it fell flat, particularly since she looked like she'd been the target of some kind of lunge herself. After that she fell silent, apparently searching for her next words.

Eventually her father tried to prompt her. "You came home looking like this, told me you'd spent the night with Yeong-Gi"--the young man blanched--"and locked yourself in your room without telling me anything else. What was I supposed to think?"

"Hey, it wasn't like that--" Yeong-Gi began, but he was silenced by a sharp glance from Mr. Yoo.

Shin-Ae sighed. "That's not what I said, Papa. I told you the party was ok, Yeong-Gi had watched out for me last night, and that I needed to study and rest." She chewed on her lip. "I guess I have to tell you two what happened, but first you both have to promise you won't do anything about this, and I mean anything, without my agreement." With that puzzling pronouncement, she leveled her gaze first at her father and then at her "friend," waiting for their confirmation.

Yeong-Gi swallowed. He couldn't fathom a reason for Shin-Ae's strange condition on an explanation. Kousuke's mother hadn't engineered something again, had she? Who _had_ given him that water? He thought he'd done everything right to keep her safe.

Finally, after exchanging a confused glance, both men nodded. Yeong-Gi added, "You have my word," but he wasn't too certain how reliable her father's grudging assent was.

"It was Sang-Chul," Shin-Ae began, and suddenly everything clicked into place. She didn't want Yeong-Gi to go do something stupid again, strain his family's business relationships, and land him back in jail. And of course her father, with a fraction of the social clout of Sang-Chul's family, would be steamrolled if he started looking for justice. Under the table, Yeong-Gi clenched his fist.

"After I left Yeong-Gi," she paused briefly, and Yeong-Gi glanced up from his hands to notice both her faint blush and her father's suspicious glower, "I headed over to the taxis that were waiting. My phone slipped out of my hand on the driveway, I bent to pick it up, and a motorcycle slammed into me and crushed the phone. There were a couple of people who saw it, so Sang-Chul took off his helmet, pretended to be concerned, and offered to take me to the hospital." 

Her scowl suggested how that offer had been received. "Maybe he thought..." She glanced at her father and decided not to complete the thought, but Yeong-Gi's imagination supplied a scenario involving a drugged and compliant victim. Except that the drink had been given to him. Somehow it still wasn't adding up.

"Anyway," she finished, "I guess I was tired and not thinking clearly, but somehow he made it seem for the couple of bystanders like I agreed that I had jumped in front of him, and I didn't need medical attention, and everything was fine." Her voice caught, and Yeong-Gi keenly felt the injustice of it.

"And why am I not supposed to complain to the authorities about this?" Mr. Yoo asked.

Yeong-Gi could see that Shin-Ae was breathing deeply to get her composure back, so he replied, "Sang-Chul's father is a very powerful man. You'd end up fired and with no recourse to the law."

This clearly did not sit well with Mr. Yoo. However, Yeong-Gi decided it was unlikely he'd jump to any ill-considered actions this evening, and so it was safe to focus on Shin-Ae. "Thanks for telling us. How are you feeling? Want to take a break? Want me to give you some space for the evening?"

She took another breath and then nodded. "Yeah, I think that's for the best. I'll see you out." Her father made as if to rise, but she waved him back to his seat. "I'll be fine at our front door, Papa." He complied begrudgingly.

"Why aren't you sneezing?" Shin-Ae asked Yeong-Gi when they stepped outside, before he could say anything. He had to take a moment to stop stewing over Sang-Chul, which was probably why she had asked, and think back to before the eventful evening.

"I took something on the way here. Didn't want you worrying over me like a mother hen again." He tried to smile, to give her the comfort of his carefree grin, but he could tell from her expression that it wasn't having the intended effect. "Are you sure you're ok? Shouldn't you at least get checked out by a doctor? I should have driven you home. I can't believe I let that happen to you."

Since he couldn't, she supplied a laugh. "Who's the mother hen now? I got lucky, it was just a glancing blow, and he wasn't going too fast. And quit blaming yourself, it had nothing to do with you. There was nothing you should have done differently."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I have to know. Do you think it was intentional?"

"Without a doubt. The smirk when no one else was looking was abundantly communicative." 

He pulled her into a sudden hug, and his voice became vicious. "Damn him and his damned smirk. I've got to do something, to teach him he can't mess with you like this."

At first she held him tightly, but as he finished talking, she pushed him away. "You're doing the same thing Kousuke and your parents did last time. Why do _you_ have to do something, why do you think it's ok that he gets this total immunity from the law? He tried to rape me last year--and we kept working at the same company! Do you realize how screwed up that is?"

So it wasn't just the incident this morning that was bothering her. This was why it seemed like she couldn't quite catch her breath.

He gently took both of her hands. "You're right. That's messed up. I just don't know how to fix it while keeping you safe."

She sniffled, freed one hand to swipe at her nose, and then leaned back into him. He encircled her with his arms, savoring the ability to do so. She answered, "I think I might know how, but I'm going to have to figure out the details. And I might need some help from you." She looked up and flashed him a surprisingly wolfish smile. "Can I count on you?"

"Of course." He was worried about what she had planned, but could talk it over with her tomorrow, when her emotions had a chance to subside. He had an immense urge to kiss her, but held back, worried it would be too much with everything she was dealing with.

She solved the problem for him, popping up onto her toes to kiss him suddenly and deeply. Then the sound of her father moving around in the apartment reached them, and she pulled away. "Oh, um, so with all this, I haven't told him yet. Can we be a secret for now? From everyone--Maya's mom is a talker, and apparently there's now a link between Maya and Dieter."

"Yeah, no problem," he replied, before kissing her nose and reluctantly taking a step back. "Oh, and check your mailbox before your dad gets to it. I'm gonna go grab you a new phone and drop it in. And if your SIM card is still intact, just ignore all those messages. I'll try to be better about that in the future, but no promises." He began to descend the stairs, her puzzled expression the last he saw of her that evening.


	4. Chapter 4

Shin-Ae went out that night to buy some cheap concealer from the corner store. On her way back, she grabbed the new phone from the mailbox, popped her SIM card in, and stifled laughter as Yeong-Gi's texts started to arrive. She shot off a reply.

\- You're the best. Also thanks for the phone.  
\- The best chicken eater?  
\- The best texter. ...And kisser.  
\- (•̀ᴗ•́)و

Then she sent a message off to Kousuke asking if he was available to talk. Her phone buzzed immediately.

"Hi boss," she answered.

"I haven't been your boss for a couple of months," Kousuke replied drily.

"But you'll always be 'boss' in my heart." 

"Don't tell your new boss that." 

She smiled, remembering how cold he'd been before he finally decided she was worthy of becoming his protege. "Point taken. I have a problem and need some advice."

"Please tell me you didn't mistranslate an email and schedule a meeting for 2 a.m again."

"That was one time! No, I have a black eye. I don't think makeup is going to cut it. Should I go in tomorrow? Call in sick?"

He hemmed. "Would an eye patch cover it?"

She got to her room and inspected her face in her mirror. "Negative. Of course you completely skipped the 'what the hell happened to you' part."

"I assumed you tripped or bumped into something. You're not the most graceful person. Anyway, tell your real boss that you're unwell and need to work from home for a few days. Then work extra hours each day so your productivity compensates for your absence. How did the party go?" Trust Kousuke to ignore conversational niceties such as segues.

When she didn't answer immediately, he asked with a tone that she had learned after months of working closely with him to interpret as sympathetic, "Were you able to go?"

Shin-Ae replied, "I went. It was eventful, but not useful professionally. I'll have to fill you in later. There are a couple of things I can't talk about yet." She had a thought. "Hey, do you know any lawyers who aren't attached to Hirahara Corp. and would be willing to brainstorm with me for little to no fee?"

She could _hear_ him covering his eyes, just by his tone. "This isn't related to the 'eventful' party, is it?" When she didn't answer, he sighed and continued, "I'll email someone and copy you. Don't make me regret this."

"No promises. But thanks, I really appreciate it."

For a few more minutes, they discussed what she was up to at work. As always, he had a number of helpful insights. Eventually he said, "I have to prep for a meeting tomorrow. Feel free to call if you need anything else."

"You know I will. Night!"


	5. Chapter 5

The next day Shin-Ae took Kousuke's advice and worked from home. Her dad had left for work, and she'd just started wondering what she was going to fix herself for lunch, when there was a knock on the door.

Still wary after the break-in last year, Shin-Ae cracked the door a sliver and peered out.

"Pizza party!" Yeong-Gi proclaimed, wearing one of his wildly enthusiastic grins.

Shin-Ae smiled back and let him in. Then she adopted a skeptical expression. "Hang on, this is important. Our relationship ends here and now if you brought the wrong toppings."

"You love pineapple and anchovies as much as I do, right?" Yeong-Gi held his ground effortlessly while she tried bodily to push him back out the door.

...

While they devoured a large pepperoni and sausage pizza on the couch, Shin-Ae started to lay out the skeleton of her plan. "We need hard evidence that he's done this drug thing repeatedly. Maybe an audio or written confession of some kind. We can come at it from three angles." She held up three fingers and ticked each one off in order. "One, try to track down any girls he's victimized. Two, connect with his buddies to see if we can find anything out. And three, get close to him to trick him into a confession."

Yeong-Gi's eyebrows rose higher and higher throughout her explanation. "You make it all sound so easy." 

"No, I know it's practically impossible, and obviously he can't get even the faintest hint of what we're up to, or we're done."

"You do realize that plotting the overthrow of a major corporate partner is considered more monstrous than murder in my family." When Shin-Ae frowned, Yeong-Gi hastily added, "Not that that would stop me from giving the creep what he deserves. But are you sure you still want to do this? You're putting yourself in a lot of risk, and at the end of the day, if it does miraculously work, you'll have to go public in court with what happened to you." He nudged her. "Even your dad will find out."

To his surprise, she took his hand as she nodded immediately and resolutely. "I'm absolutely doing this. I keep thinking about how I'd feel if I heard he'd gotten to someone else next."

"Ok, then I'm with you. Operation Get the Gammy Gowl is underway."

Shin-Ae removed the pizza box from Yeong-Gi's lap and scooted across the couch so that she was tucked under his arm. "I have no idea what you just said, but it has a nice ring to it."

A faintly incredulous expression settled on his countenance, and he blurted out, "What the hell do you even see in me, Shin-Ae? You're the one who's figuring all of this out, and I haven't been remotely useful to you pretty much ever. I'm a complete screw-up. I even managed to get into a huge fight with your dad already."

She stared up at him in disbelief. "You're kidding, right? You've gone to all kinds of lengths to be helpful to me. You've been a better friend to me than anyone, and when I needed it most." He noticed her turning bright red, and then she leaned over, kissed his neck, and whispered into his ear, "Or if you prefer, I'm just shallow and you're insanely handsome."

A matching blush crept up Yeong-Gi's neck, and he cleared his throat. "I may be ok with that."

For a few minutes they ignored the plan in favor of strictly nonverbal communication, but then Yeong-Gi's alarm started going off. "Feck," he said with feeling, and started straightening his tie. "I've got to get back to work."

"Me too," Shin-Ae acknowledged reluctantly, self-consciously patting her hair into place. She walked him to the door. "Anyway, we'll need at least the guys' help with the plan. I don't think you could ever get on Sang-Chul's good side, let alone elicit some kind of heart-to-heart confession."

"They'll probably be down for it. Let me talk to them, and then we'll start a group chat and brainstorm how to tackle this." He stood in the doorway, looking at her wistfully, and Shin-Ae decided that she was going to stop making the first move every time. She figured he needed to prove to himself that he wasn't going to screw up with her.

So she just stood there, leaning against the door jam, with half a smile turned up at him. "See you soon, I hope."

He hesitated, looking uncertain. "Ok, see you soon." He turned halfway to go, then paused, turned back suddenly, placed his hands on her shoulders, and bent to kiss her. 

As he jogged down the steps back to his car, she caught a few snatches of something he was singing. "I just wanna be somebody to you..."

...

It took hundreds of messages, and eventually looping Maya and Rika in, but after a week they had a plan. Soushi would work on Sang-Chul, and Dieter, with a cameo from Rika, would work on his friends. Shin-Ae wasn't going to be able to sweet-talk Sang-Chul into a confession and shouldn't be caught bothering his friends, so she and Maya were in charge of internet stalking girls who may have run into Sang-Chul at some point.

Shin-Ae dropped her backpack in the corner of Maya's room. "Thanks again for your help with this. I know how crazy it is."

Maya opened her laptop and set it on the desk. "Hey, Shin-Ae, before we get started, I should tell you something."

Shin-Ae dragged a beanbag next to the desk and dropped into it. "Something about German babies?" she asked, her voice sing-song.

"Who told--" Maya began, but then snapped her mouth shut and remembered to look abashed. "Anyway, I know I broke girl code, and I'm sorry about that. I should have asked you first. It was just the most perfectly adorable romantic moment, and I had to... Oops, I mean, can you forgive me?"

Shin-Ae snorted. "If I didn't, Min-Hyuk would kill me, after all that effort he went to over winter break to force us to talk to each other again. But it's no big deal. We've all known for months and months that there wasn't anything between Dieter and me. He was fair game."

"Oh good. Rika was thinking he needed someone to distract him so he could get over you, and I really needed a date to that dance, and it was all so perfect. Ok, let's get to work then. Do we start with Sang-Chul's female Wacebook friends?"

They ended up combing the surprisingly numerous pictures of Sang-Chul across various social media platforms for girls who didn't look entirely thrilled to have him in their personal space. Then Maya contacted them through one of her existing fake accounts ("Why on Earth do you have those?" "So I can stalk celebrities, of course!") asking if she could chat with them about a creepy vibe she was getting from a mutual acquaintance.

"I just want to know whether it's safe to go to a party with him," Maya typed. 

"Remember," Shin-Ae told her, "if you get any replies, as few lies as possible. Just tell them you've also heard from someone else he's messed with, and ask if they'll talk to me. We don't want this to be any shadier than it has to be to keep it hidden from him."

"Your new lawyer friend from the hot boss says me using a fake account won't be a problem?"

"Quit calling him that, and yes, it's fine. I don't know if I can remember her whole explanation, but it made sense."

Just then Shin-Ae's phone buzzed. It was an update from Dieter and Rika.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter obliquely references this fantastic edit: <https://www.instagram.com/p/BuUPXJLIMIU>


	6. Chapter 6

Shin-Ae answered Rika's text ("We have UPDATES!!!") with a call. Maya made her put it on speakerphone.

"Why on Earth did you think Dieter would be able to pull this off?" Rika's voice was incredulous. "It was so awkward. You should have seen him trying to convince those awful guys that I was friend zoning him while I acted all haughty across the restaurant. He was so red."

Shin-Ae smiled at Maya when Dieter's voice piped up in the background, "I don't think I did so bad! It worked, didn't it?"

Rika shot back, her voice slightly muffled as if she'd turned her head, "I think it only worked because they took pity on you." Her voice sharpened again. "Anyway, he's meeting them at a bar next week so they can 'teach him some tricks.' Hopefully that means Sang-Chul style tricks."

Maya grabbed the phone. "Great job! I'm proud of you, Dieter!"

"Ok, everything's rolling," Shin-Ae said. "Thanks guys. Talk about amazing friends."

Maya chimed in, "Come to the bakery for some celebratory donuts, everyone!"

...

On Yeong-Gi's day off two days later, Shin-Ae started to realize something was wrong around lunchtime. She had usually received a small novella of texts from him by then, planning lunch or dinner together and talking about everything else under the sun, interspersed with apologies for interrupting her studying.

But there was nothing. She flipped over to the group chat and noticed he hadn't sent any messages there since the night before. Then she paged up through her chat history with him. He had wished her goodnight every night since the day after the party--except last night.

Shin-Ae called him a few times over the next hour but got nothing. She briefly considered checking in with Kousuke but then remembered he was out of the country on business.

She texted Dieter and Soushi.

\- I have something to give Yeong-Gi for his part of the plan. I think his phone's dead. Is he with you guys?

Dieter's reply came quickly.

\- No. Last time we hung out was a couple days ago, and he wasn't going to come out today because of family stuff.

Soushi sent a follow-up message:

\- The ratbag stood me up last night.

Shin-Ae messaged the guys that she could drop the things off at Yeong-Gi's place and asked for his address. When Dieter sent it, for a moment she worried they might show up too. But then Soushi sent a picture of the two of them with the girls at the beach, and she remembered she'd had to turn down an invite from them to do a day trip because she was behind on studying. 

\- Thanks! Wish I was there, bring me back some boardwalk fries.

...

When she knocked on the door of the apartment address they'd given her, a grandmotherly figure opened it.

"Hi, I'm Shin-Ae, is Yeong-Gi here?"

Yeong-Gi's Nana studied her for a moment. "Pleased to meet you. You can call me Nora." Almost as if to herself, she added, "Normally I'd ask him first, but I think you should go on in. Yes, probably for the best." She stepped back to let Shin-Ae in and pointed to a closed door. "He's in his room, go right ahead. I need to take care of lunch in the kitchen before it burns."

"Thanks. Nice to meet you." Shin-Ae slipped off her shoes and padded over to the closed door. She knocked and received a muffled, "Come in, Nana," after a few seconds.

Shin-Ae opened the door. "Actually, it's me."

Yeong-Gi was seated on the ground in pajamas, his back against the side of his bed, with a plate of old-looking bacon and eggs sitting uneaten a few feet away on the floor.

"O-oh, Shin-Ae!" Yeong-Gi placed his hand beside him on the floor as if to get up, but then slumped and lifted it to cover his eyes instead. "Now might not be the best time."

She considered taking his word for it but figured his grandmother must have had some reason for sending her in there. She closed the door, strode to his bed, and sat on the floor beside him. He smelled of stale sweat. "What's up?"

He glanced at her, and his pupils were pinpricks. He didn't answer her, so she slid in between his arm and his side and rested her head against his chest in a sort of a hug. His heart was racing, and his breaths were shallow and fast.

She placed her hand over his where it rested on the ground and laced her fingers through his. Unsure what to do next, she started talking, whatever came to mind. "Lil' Buddy was such a brat today. He doesn't like it when I watch cat videos. I think he gets jealous. So I'm feeding him, and I click a link, not knowing what it is, and it's this video that starts with an adorable little kitten meowing. Lil' Buddy _instantly_ glares at me, swallows down a big gulp of food, and dashes into the apartment. I follow him, and when I find him, he's just finished barfing on my borrowed laptop."

Yeong-Gi emitted a half-strangled giggle, and when Shin-Ae glanced up, she saw that he looked more present. Well, if it was working--"That's nothing compared to one time my papa pissed him off..."

...

Half an hour and five cat stories later, Yeong-Gi was more himself. "I'm sorry you have to see me like this."

"It's no worse than that time I sobbed into your back at a hospital. Would it help to talk about it?"

"Nana keeps saying that, but I dunno..."

Shin-Ae's stomach tightened. "Does this happen a lot?"

Yeong-Gi's gaze slid from her eyes to his feet. Rather than answering her question, he said, "Yesterday, I almost thought Yui had found out about us."

"Mrs. Hirahara? Your mom?" Shin-Ae was having trouble figuring out where this was going.

"She's not--" He cut himself off as if to gather his thoughts. "Shin-Ae, ever since I met her, she's been..." He gave up, shaking his head. "I think this is too heavy for where we are right now. Maybe another time."

Shin-Ae thought back to his reactions whenever Mrs. Hirahara was around or came up in conversation. The flinches, the sudden bouts of nausea. And then remembered him jumping to conclusions about Papa. A sickening realization dawned on her. "Did she hurt you?"

She heard Yeong-Gi swallow a few times. Then he tensed as if steeling himself and turned his face away from her. "When I was little, yeah. She would--it was bad for a few years. She always made me wear pants and long sleeves to cover--" He took a breath, then words started tumbling out. "Not once I got big enough to stop her though. But after that, whenever she noticed me, she tried to hurt me in other ways."

"Other ways?"

Now that he'd hurried past the hard part, the rest seemed to come easily, but he still wouldn't look at her. "Anything I cared about got taken away or somehow twisted. Old friends, childhood toys. Hobbies. One time she landed me in jail for a year. When she realized I had started dating Alyssa, she got her a crazy busy job so I wouldn't see her for months at a time. But when Nana came, it stopped."

Shin-Ae felt like the world was spinning. It was like she was listening to some kind of horror story that couldn't possibly be true. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you to talk."

Now that he'd gotten everything off his chest, Yeong-Gi sounded more like himself than he had all afternoon. "No, I decided to tell you because you need to know what she is," he said earnestly, his eyes finally back on hers. "It stopped until that night at the party. That's when she landed you in the hospital. And that's why I'm worried, if she knew about us, you might be in real danger. And I'm not smart enough, strong enough, to keep you safe."

Shin-Ae shook her head. "We can think about that later. So you... panicked?"

"Yeah, I kinda get these attacks," he mumbled. "I just feel anxious and useless and overwhelmed, and it spirals. I mean, I kind of am all those things anyway."

Shin-Ae bumped his shoulder with hers. "You're the most in-control, thoughtful, perceptive, and considerate person I know. But that point aside, do you see a doctor about this stuff?"

"I can't. She runs all the doctors. She would find out. And she would never let me tell them about what she's done. Or she'd twist it somehow, convince them I'm making it up. Maybe I am. Maybe I made her hate me..."

Shin-Ae shushed him. "My papa is buddies with everyone in psych at his hospital. And some of them are really really good people. I bet they would do everything they could to protect your privacy. Can I ask him? I mean, not tell him the details, but just get you a number you can call?"

Yeong-Gi nodded mutely. 

"And you'll talk to someone?" she prodded.

"You have my word," he replied.

Satisfied that they'd at least taken a step in the right direction, she decided he was right that they should back off from the heavy stuff. This was getting way too complicated. "So, will you show me your favorite movie?"

He took her hand again and leaned his forehead against hers. "What could I have possibly done to deserve you?" Then he sat back, and to her astonishment, was able to turn on his dazzling smile. "Have you ever seen Shaun of the Dead?"


	7. Chapter 7

After an exceptional shepherd's pie from Nora and a viewing of Shaun of the Dead (Yeong-Gi paused frequently to point out all the zombies who had been healthy citizens in previous scenes), Shin-Ae headed home to catch up on work and studying. Before their apartment door latched closed, she heard Yeong-Gi start to tell his grandmother, "Nana, I've gotta ask you to keep everything about Shin-Ae and me secret..."

Shin-Ae shook her head. Secret from her papa because he was freaking out about her being hurt. Secret from Mrs. Hirahara because she was a sociopath. Secret from their friends because everyone knew everyone. When would they ever just be a normal couple? Were they both too screwed up for it to work?

She rode the bus home in a daze. She didn't realize until she got to her room that she was going to lock her door, slide down the wall, and start sobbing.

Lil' Buddy scratched at the door when she was mostly cried out and let her pet him while she calmed down. "I forgive you for barfing on my stuff," she told him between hiccups. With an effort, she suppressed the swirling thoughts about what Mrs. Hirahara might have done to leave Yeong-Gi _that_ emotionally scarred, and the other uncomfortable thoughts about whether she had completely messed up their relationship with the way she had pushed him.

Her phone buzzed, and she read the long message from Yeong-Gi.

\- Thanks for stopping by today. Nana really likes you, I think because you ate more shepherd's pie than I did. I'm feeling kind of raw tonight, so I'm going to spend some quality time with my punching bag and then try to sleep. I'll text when I'm able to message or talk again. It might be a couple days, or might not. I hope that's ok.

That brought a few fresh tears, but after a minute she wiped her nose on the hem of her t-shirt and sent back:

\- Of course, I understand. Hope you feel better soon. 💙💙💙

Twenty minutes later, she was just getting through an assignment for work when her phone started buzzing with a call. She lunged at it, hoping and fearing it was Yeong-Gi, but when she hit the green circle without checking the name, Soushi's voice came blasting out. Even on the phone he was louder than should be allowed.

"Yo yo ma homie!"

"Soushi, what is wrong with you? Who says that?"

Soushi replied, "Do you have a sinus infection? You sound all stuffy. Anyway, Yeong-Gi says he's busy with family stuff for a few days, and the stars aligned in our favor, so I cut him out of the plan and made friends with Sang-Chul without having to pretend to fight with Yeong-Gi."

"Wait, what!? You went off script? We thought really carefully about the script. You might have just screwed up the whole plan." Shin-Ae had a stray thought that if she were having this conversation with Soushi in person, she might have kicked his knee at this point.

"Nah, I gotchu! I ran into Sang-Chul, and he was sloshed, and we didn't even need to have the fight in front of him for him to believe it. He thinks I hate that bloke more than he does now. We're plotting all kinds of nasty things."

Shin-Ae sighed and slouched over her desk. "Let's hope you did this right. What are you plotting?"

"Well, for one thing, one of us is gonna drug Alyssa."

Shin-Ae sat up straight. "You. Are. Shitting. Me."

"Language, m'love!" Soushi sounded more gleeful than he had any right to.

"And did you record it?" Shin-Ae held her breath.

"Coming your way through the tubes right now!"

Shin-Ae barely dared to ask, "And did he say anything about having done it before?"

"Let's just say you're going to bus to my place just to kiss me when you hear this." Soushi actually laughed maniacally.

Shin-Ae went to hang up but was struck by a thought. "You do know you're not really going to drug Alyssa, right?"

...

The next day, Shin-Ae checked her phone reflexively for the fifteenth time in as many minutes for a message from Yeong-Gi, but there was nothing. It had been radio silence since the single text the previous evening. 

She was sitting at a cafe waiting to meet one of the two girls who had replied to Maya's messages about Sang-Chul.

A beautiful blonde wearing sunglasses and a white sundress sat silently and gracefully in the seat across from her, and Shin-Ae started. "Oh, hi. Mei?"

Mei nodded, clearly uncomfortable, and got straight to the point. "The other girl told me you were asking if Sang-Chul had bothered any other women besides you, right?"

Shin-Ae felt her palms tingling but tried to maintain a calm demeanor to avoid spooking Mei. She spoke slowly and softly, reciting a script she had memorized so she wouldn't chicken out. "Yeah. He used drugs to try to take advantage of me last year. Something weird happened at a party the other week, and it made me realize it might not have been a one time thing. I started wondering if it was a pattern, if maybe he might try it again with someone else. If maybe I could prevent someone else from being hurt."

The blonde sat very still for a long time before she replied. "I thought that might be what this was about, and I thought about it. A lot." There was another interminable pause. "I'm not sure I can do this," she finally said. "So many people would find out. I would feel so..." She trailed off.

Shin-Ae supplied, "Ashamed? Naked? That's how I feel, talking to you now. But I know I shouldn't. And I know I would feel worse if I ever found out he'd done something to another girl."

Mei took off her sunglasses and looked at Shin-Ae as if realizing that was exactly what had happened. She pressed her lips together and nodded. "You're right. I'm in, if you have a lawyer we can talk to. What's next?"

...

That night, as she was falling asleep, a message from Yeong-Gi finally came. She smiled, then frowned.

\- What idiot called it insomnia, and not resisting a rest?  
\- oh my god you did not just say that  
\- Speaking of God, what do you call a sleepwalking nun?  
\- you don't genuinely think I want to know the answer to that, right?  
\- A roamin' catholic!!!  
\- ...  
\- Can I call you?  
\- I'm going to need a promise that there will be no additional puns when I pick up.

He called, and she answered.

"Is your name Wi-Fi? Because I am feeling such a strong connection here.

"I'm hanging up."

"What! That's not a pun, it's a joke."

Against her better judgment, she giggled.


	8. Chapter 8

The next day, Yeong-Gi called Shin-Ae on her way home from work, and they spent fifteen minutes chatting about the day--during lunch she had recruited one more of Maya's social media girls to their cause. 

Eventually Yeong-Gi leaned back into the pillows on his bed, closed his eyes, and then set his phone next to his head on the pillow. He could hear Shin-Ae's desk chair squeak as she presumably collapsed in it, having reached home.

"Yeong-Gi?"

"Yeah?"

"The other day you said your mom--"

"Sorry, could you not call her that?"

"Oh, yeah, ok, sure." Yeong-Gi realized he was going to have to tell her what was up with that at some point. She continued, "You said Mrs. Hirahara landed me in the hospital at the party last year. But she just forced me to attend the party. It was Sang-Chul who dropped the vial, right?"

"After she's fucked with you a few times, you start to notice her trademarks. Pardon my French." 

Yeong-Gi wondered whether to tell Shin-Ae what had been on his mind lately. In spite of the things Shin-Ae had experienced, she still hadn't learned the key life lesson: that no matter how hard she worked to get on top, no matter how safe or prepared she felt, Yui was going to crush her. Yui played a perpetual chess game, deploying her pawns with astonishing tactical genius to keep her opponents always on the defensive, always putting out fires, always one misstep away from annihilation.

He decided that instead of telling her about it--the way her plan was going so smoothly, she wouldn't derail it for his paranoia anyway--he would chase down the loose threads. Who _had_ drugged them?

...

Later that week, Yeong-Gi stopped by the catering place that had staffed the party during his lunch break. He'd called a few days earlier, pretending to be Kousuke, to ask them to have all the staff from the party on hand for his visit. His fictional excuse was that he wanted to hand pick a few for a soiree he was planning.

"Mr. Hirahara, please come in."

He needed to check whether his cover was intact. "Just Kousuke, please."

The manager didn't bat an eye. "Of course. This way."

Yeong-Gi asked to interview each member of the staff privately and enhanced the request with a modest financial incentive. He made it clear that those whom he hadn't interviewed yet should be kept in a separate room, because he had some surprising questions. He could imagine the manager rolling his eyes behind his back at the ridiculous request, but hoped it was ascribed to the foibles of the rich.

Soon Yeong-Gi was seated behind a desk in the manager's office, asking one employee after another who had been in the kitchen, who had served the water, who had spiked the water, who had been given the water.

He had trouble hiding his shock when the first interviewee answered his question about who had spiked it with a bland, "He introduced himself as Yeong-Gi."

"Yeong-Gi Hirahara?"

The last name must have caught the man's attention, because his eyes snapped over to "Kousuke's." "I wouldn't know?"

"What color was his hair?"

"Nondescript, dark." So not Sang-Chul. After the fallout last time Sang-Chul had plotted something with Yui, Yeong-Gi wasn't surprised.

Yeong-Gi nodded slowly, thinking. "My brother has hair the same color as mine, so I'd guess someone was trying to frame him."

"Ah, makes sense. I didn't know it was a drug, of course. He said something about a surprise flavor the target would appreciate. But it was still a little odd that he made sure I knew his name."

The rest of the interviews were either variations on that first one or staff who had no idea what he was talking about. No one had any further clues that could point him to the culprit, but at least he'd made sure that all the witnesses knew it wasn't him. 

He mentally spun the story the way it could have played out: Sang-Chul accused by Shin-Ae of drugging girls with drinks, but plausible evidence pointing to Yeong-Gi for all of the parties she'd attended. He'd been the one with her at the first party, the vial was planted on him at the second party, and there was a slew of witnesses who thought it was him at the third. Bloody hell.

...

Once Shin-Ae had put two other girls who were victims of Sang-Chul in touch with the lawyer, she realized she had to call Kousuke.

"Hey," she said when he picked up. Then she hesitated, because this was going to be tricky. She wanted to take down his business partner but somehow retain him as a friend and mentor.

"Afternoon." Kousuke sounded stiff.

She wasn't used to this kind of reception. "Everything ok?"

He shot back, "Why don't you tell me?"

Well, this was off to a great start. "I'll get straight to the point then. Kousuke, I've learned that Sang-Chul is a serial predator. I want to talk to you about it, because I think the women he victimized deserve justice. Myself included."

"You've 'learned'? Or you've taken it upon yourself to dig this up?" He was still cold.

"Um..."

"You think I didn't know? You think I'd give you--a known wild card--a lawyer, no questions asked, and _not_ check in on what was going on?" Suddenly, his voice was cold fury. "Why didn't you discuss this with me earlier? Did you even stop for a moment to think about the ramifications?"

Shin-Ae was stunned. She could see his point, but he wasn't trying to see hers. Her tone when she replied matched his. "Did you give me a crooked lawyer? Did she violate that confidentiality thing she talked about?"

"No, I didn't need to. You all left a trail a mile wide."

Shin-Ae deflated. She felt suddenly defeated. How could she have been so dumb? She had thought everything was going according to plan. "Oh. So... do your parents know?"

"Yes. Bring your lawyer, and we'll discuss this next Tuesday at noon."

He hung up. Her stomach was in knots.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter owes some imagery to this impressive analysis: <https://www.instagram.com/p/BuKc2BbgsdJ/?hl=en>. (One of many fantastic posts on that account.)


	9. Chapter 9

Tuesday morning, Yeong-Gi had Jayce monitoring the situation. He was in a morning meeting that was due to end in a few minutes when Jayce discreetly slid in and passed him a note.

Yeong-Gi glanced at the note. His face fell, and he hastily excused himself. Once in the hall, he yanked out his phone and texted Shin-Ae. Then he sprinted for his desk to collect his car keys, muttering as he went, "No no no no no no no..."

...

Yeong-Gi pounded on Shin-Ae's front door. When no one answered, he tried it and found it unlocked. "Shin-Ae? Are you here?"

He found her on her bed, looking ashen. He hurried over, sat beside her on the bed, and took her hand. "When Jayce told me, I came as fast as I could. Why weren't you answering your phone? Is your dad ok?"

Her fingers gripped his spasmodically. "I didn't want to take your calls in case someone called about him. I didn't know they could do something like this. You told me, but I didn't realize it."

Yeong-Gi shook his head. "I was worried she was going to pull something, but I didn't think about your dad. I should have warned you. Have you talked to him?"

Shin-Ae closed her eyes as if composing herself, but her grip on his hand didn't loosen. "A lawyer called. She said he'd used his one call to talk to her and then asked her to get in touch with me. She said she believed him, that he's innocent, but they have so much made up stuff on him, it's going to take a long time to get him out. And she said, she said..." Her eyes screwed up, she let out one sobbing breath, and then she continued, "She said she thought the judge was one of theirs, and the bail was going to be astronomical."

He freed his hand and pulled her into a hug. She dissolved into tears against his chest. "We'll take this one step at a time, together. You're not alone." He stroked her hair for a long time. Eventually he checked the time on his phone. "It's almost eleven. Are you able to go to this meeting? I'll come with you."

Shin-Ae sat up. "Yes, I have to, for Papa." Yeong-Gi was impressed by the calm, collected demeanor that had settled on her. "Besides, we still have all the facts we've uncovered. They're pressuring us because they're scared."

...

When Yeong-Gi walked into the room, he knew instantly that everything was going to crash and burn around them in a matter of minutes, even if he couldn't quite figure out how yet. Yui's face was absolutely serene, without even the tiniest wrinkle of concern. His father looked furious, but not worried. Sang-Chul, who never did have a poker face, looked downright smarmy. Mr. Kim seemed unperturbed.

Yeong-Gi glanced at Shin-Ae. She was anxious but not crumbling; she hadn't figured out they were screwed yet. He couldn't work out how to warn her, how to get her to safety. All he knew was that he had to keep it together for her.

No one greeted them. Once they sat down in adjacent seats next to Shin-Ae's lawyer and across the table from the others, his father began.

"Just so we're all aware, Miss Yoo's father was arrested this morning. I'm sure she'll want to keep this brief so that she can attend to family matters."

Yui feigned concern. "I'm so sorry to hear that. I was just chatting with his hospital management yesterday. It seems they had to let him go, so I was planning on offering him a role in one of our institutions. This is a terrible mess."

Shin-Ae tensed, and Yeong-Gi reached for her hand under the table. She glared at Yui and replied, "You got him fired? How low can you get?"

"Of course not, dearie," Yui said soothingly. "I have only the highest regard for your father. Let's go ahead and put this little misadventure behind us, and then we'll do what we can about his incarceration and his employment."

Shin-Ae spat back, "You're not about to coerce me to drop this." Yeong-Gi, worried she was going to deviate from the plan laid out by the lawyer, stroked her thumb with his, trying to ground her.

Mr. Kim stepped in. "Then we'll discuss your baseless assertions. I've been informed that you plan to accuse my son of trying to drug you at several parties."

Sang-Chul smirked, and Yeong-Gi felt a sudden rage well up in his chest. He almost lost it and had to close his eyes to regain his composure. When he opened them, Mr. Kim was smiling. He continued, "Of course, as soon as I heard about this, I hired a neutral investigator to figure out what happened at the most recent party. He interviewed all of the wait staff, and half of them assured him a young man named 'Yeong-Gi' told them to serve the drugged drink. I'm afraid your compatriot is untrustworthy, dear."

Yeong-Gi frowned. Dammit. If this was just their opener, he hadn't dug nearly deep enough. He would expect Yui to have a couple more curveballs after this one--and he couldn't fathom what they might be.

"No protestation, Yeong-Gi?" Mr. Kim asked. "So am I to assume their testimony will stand?"

Yeong-Gi sat up straighter. "You know very well you didn't send anyone to talk to them. When I went to ask them about it, they were completely unaware of what had been in the drink. And all of the witnesses told me 'Yeong-Gi' had nondescript dark hair and was short." He dared them, knowing full well he was going to regret it, "Try again."

"Unfortunately," Sang-Chul replied, "you're clearly not the most reliable party in this dispute." He pulled a handful of pictures from a folder in front of him on the table and tossed them in front of Shin-Ae and Yeong-Gi. Apparently someone had been photographing them for weeks. There were pictures of them kissing, both outside and through windows. "It looks like you two have kindled a relationship. You do know this looks an awful lot like two greedy bumblers cooking up a smear campaign. You even had a friend get me inebriated and force a farcical confession out of me."

Yeong-Gi had to admit, if they bought a convincing lawyer to sell their story to the court, it might almost sound reasonable enough to get Sang-Chul off the hook. But there were still the other victims. 

He glanced at Shin-Ae and was surprised to see a determined expression in her eyes, in spite of the revelation that any sense of privacy she had was an illusion.

Before either of them could figure out how to react, there was a knock at the door. Then Kousuke strode into the room, and Yeong-Gi could see what was going to happen. It was there in the expensive dark suit, starched white shirt, and blue silk tie that perfectly matched the shade of his eyes. Kousuke was going for the kill.

Yeong-Gi squeezed Shin-Ae's hand under the table.

Kousuke stalked over to the other side of the table, next to Yui, but did not take a seat. "I apologize for the delay. I was finishing some conversations with the other women who planned to accuse Sang-Chul of assault."

Yui smiled, a slow curling of her lips that Yeong-Gi recognized all too well, and he felt himself starting to sweat. 

"Oh, yes," Sang-Chul drawled, "you were going to convince the other conspirators that their schemes weren't as lucrative as being reasonable, weren't you? How did that go?"

Yeong-Gi realized Kousuke must have paid the other victims to keep them away from the case. Those self-satisfied monsters on the other side of the table were explaining to Shin-Ae that after all her hard work and vulnerability, they had erased everything she thought she'd achieved by buying off her allies.

Shin-Ae seethed at Kousuke. "I was right in the beginning. You had me fooled for awhile there, but you really are an asshole, aren't you? I just can't believe you could be so two-faced."

Kousuke placed his fingertips on the table. "I believe there's a misconception in the room."

Yeong-Gi actually saw red begin to tinge his vision. Shin-Ae had _trusted_ Kousuke. He opened his mouth to lay into his brother, thinking rapidly to come up with something suitably blistering...

"I'm the one who instigated the fact finding," Kousuke stated matter-of-factly. "I gave Shin-Ae a lawyer and led the entire effort."

Yeong-Gi snapped his mouth closed. Confused, he glanced at Shin-Ae, but she looked equally bewildered.

Kousuke turned to their father. "Our business partners, the Kims, have been underhanded in their dealings with us. They have been obscuring their books to avoid our agreed-upon fees, and their practices have spurred a federal investigation. They're an uncontrolled risk, and we needed to cut ties immediately and convincingly to avoid being dragged down in their collapse."

Mr. Kim and Sang-Chul both started to speak at once, but Kousuke cut them both off by slamming his hands down on the table. "Additionally," he continued, his voice incongruently calm, "Sang-Chul's actions, verified by multiple women to me just now, are so morally repugnant that they would justify severing ties on their own."

The room exploded, with everyone on Kousuke's side of the table demanding, defending, or accusing. Shin-Ae and Yeong-Gi sat in the middle of the storm, staring at each other, baffled.

Within a few minutes, everyone but Shin-Ae, Yeong-Gi, their lawyer, and Kousuke had left. The Kims had exited first with protestations and some final threats, and the elder Hiraharas went silently two minutes later, after conferring quietly on their side of the table.

Shin-Ae briefly thanked the lawyer for her help, said, "See you at the trial!" and then turned back to Yeong-Gi while she left. She looked anxiously into his eyes, as if checking for shell shock. They were still holding hands, but when Kousuke walked around the table and took the seat next to Shin-Ae, she released Yeong-Gi's grip.

"I'll post your father's bail immediately and cover his legal expenses, of course," Kousuke began, business-like. "I have some connections at his place of employment and can also see whether it's possible to reverse the damage done by my mother. It was sloppy of me to allow him to get involved."

Shin-Ae cleared her throat. "Thank you. I'm sorry for not talking with you about this earlier and for calling you..." It seemed she was reluctant to repeat her earlier epithets. "...names."

"Going into anything like this, you should get out pen and paper, list everyone involved, and decide before doing anything else which are your allies and which are opposition. It's binary; you shouldn't leave anyone as a bystander." Kousuke was looking at Shin-Ae, but she wasn't yet meeting his gaze.

"So was all this just to teach me a lesson not to make you an enemy? Because don't you think you could have done that a little more gently?" She was clearly trying to keep her anger and hurt in check but wasn't entirely succeeding.

"Of course not. I'm not that heartless. You saw how well-informed they were. Any hint that I might be sympathetic to you, and they would have cooked up another landmine for us to circumvent. It was just a useful byproduct that you got a chance to exercise considerable leadership and initiative." Kousuke ducked his head and ran one hand through his hair. "And I really am sorry they involved your father. I would have warned you if I'd had the slightest inkling that might happen."

The tension drained from Shin-Ae's posture, and when Kousuke looked back up, she was smiling weakly at him. "Truce then? Can I take you out for coffee and cake sometime to... how did you put it a few weeks ago... repair the working relationship?"

"I'll pencil you in on Friday." Kousuke wore the hint of a smile too.

Yeong-Gi furrowed his brow but remained silent.

As if the thought had just occurred to her, Shin-Ae asked Kousuke, "So when we talked on the phone the other day, were you really that angry, or were you acting?"

"Oh, I was furious. Their plans had just crystalized, and their brutality was evident. You were in their sights, and you weren't realizing you could ask for my help. I was irritated by the whole situation."

Watching his brother carefully, Yeong-Gi thought he saw the subtle signs he was lying, or at least not telling the whole truth: his eyes pointed down at the floor, his hands clasped. So if that wasn't the full reason for his anger, what was? Then Kousuke glanced briefly at the pictures of various embraces that were still scattered across the table, and a possiblity occurred to Yeong-Gi. He quickly realized how destructive it would be to voice it and resolved that he wouldn't, then or in the future.

Kousuke looked past Shin-Ae at Yeong-Gi. "You did well, Nol, but you were acting from a place of emotion and external locus of control. Get some coaching, and you might be able to address those issues. With the people skills and brain you have, you could be very successful. I would also avoid coming in to work tomorrow, if I were you. You have an excused absence." He didn't wait for a reply--which was good, because Yeong-Gi wouldn't have given him an amicable one--but stood, waved to Shin-Ae, and left.


	10. Chapter 10

They walked in silence to Yeong-Gi's car. When they got in, he sat very still for a minute, looking at the keys in his hands.

Eventually, Shin-Ae broke the silence. "Kousuke was right when he said I didn't think through the ramifications. Will you go back to work there? Kousuke could maybe protect you, but..."

"I learned early on not to rely on Kousuke," Yeong-Gi replied. "No, I think I'll give him my notice and wrap up my assignments from home. I've been thinking about getting some space from that family for a long time. You gave me the excuse and the courage to do it. I'll go to school in the fall and try not to think about them for awhile." He looked her in the eyes and said, "So thanks for that."

Shin-Ae looked uncertain until Yeong-Gi asked, "Know how my family tree is like a cactus?"

"Wait, you didn't just--you're not about to--"

"Everyone on it is a prick!"

"I just cringed so hard that it physically hurt, hon."

Then their phones buzzed one after the other, and they both checked reflexively. They had received the same message in a group chat from Kousuke. Shin-Ae clapped her hands to her mouth, and Yeong-Gi instantly started the car and threw it into gear.

\- He's out and headed home.

...

They got to the apartment just before her father did. Yeong-Gi had gone inside, and Shin-Ae was checking the mail when she heard her father's footsteps. She dashed over and gave him a rib-crushing hug. "Papa, I'm so so so sorry."

He returned her hug more gently. "For what? If I'd just listened to you, I wouldn't have been in that situation."

"Wait, what?"

"I went and started trying to figure out how to get that kid to pay for what he did to you, and it all blew up in my face."

"I wouldn't give yourself that much credit, Papa. Come on inside, and we can talk about it."

He preceded her through the doorway and then halted so suddenly that she ran into him. She peered around him and saw that Yeong-Gi, standing in the hallway, had stopped stock still when her father had caught sight of him.

Papa spluttered, "What is this boy doing here? With you? Alone? When the Hiraharas just had me fired and imprisoned?"

"Ah," Shin-Ae replied vaguely, seeing the scene suddenly through her father's eyes.

Yeong-Gi breathed in, standing up a little straighter, and said, "It's complicated, sir, but maybe if we all sit down, we can explain."

Shin-Ae sidled past her father, took Yeong-Gi's hand, guided him to the couch, and pulled him to a seat beside her.

When her father reached the couch, he was looking at their clasped hands, and his face was red. "It had better be a really, really good explanation."

...

Papa had decided, once he had heard the full story--including the possibility that Kousuke could intervene with his employer--that he needed time to think through it all. "I'm not sure whether to be angry with you or proud of you, Shin-Ae, so I'll work on figuring it out. But right now I'm going to take a nap, because I've been awake for the past twenty-four hours."

Shin-Ae had promised to be back in time to have dinner with him, and then she and Yeong-Gi had left for a pre-planned debrief with their investigative crew at Maya's bakery.

In the car, Shin-Ae started fidgeting with the strap to her tank top. After a few moments, she asked Yeong-Gi, "Remember that one time I asked you why Dieter would want to date me and you said you had some ideas but you wouldn't tell me?"

"Mmhm."

"Can you tell me now?"

Yeong-Gi tilted his head to one side. Then he pulled the car to the curb and turned to face her. "You care more about other people than you say you do. You're consistently a good person, in spite of all your reasons not to be. You're sharp as a whip, hilarious, and fun."

Shin-Ae bit her lip. "I hope some of that's true."

He smiled, then leaned in, kissed her bare shoulder, and turned his head to whisper in her ear, "Or maybe those are Dieter's reasons. Maybe I just find you mesmerizing."

...

When they walked into the back room of the bakery holding hands, there was shocked silence for a full ten seconds. Then Soushi wolf-whistled, provoking a chorus of catcalls from the whole group.

When that had died down, Soushi said, ignoring any propriety, "You dog. Did you ask Dieter's permission?" Maya immediately punched his arm.

Shin-Ae took advantage of the group's focus on Yeong-Gi to slip from his side and grab a croissant from one of the platters of pastries that Maya had put out for all of them. She chewed and waited expectantly for Yeong-Gi's answer along with everyone else, grinning as a blush crept up his neck to his cheeks.

He cleared his throat. "Not sure this is a discussion to have in front of everyone, but yes, once he went out with Maya, I did. I didn't expect that I'd ever get any sign of interest from her, but if I did, I wanted to be able to..." He trailed off, scarlet.

Soushi supplied, "To make a move! My man!"

It was Rika's turn to punch his arm. "That's enough." She turned to Shin-Ae. "So when did this happen?"

Shin-Ae and Yeong-Gi exchanged a glance, and then she answered, "At the party where Sang-Chul ran me over. We couldn't tell you all because my dad and his mom would have reacted badly. I'm sorry about that."

Dieter, who at some point had taken Maya's hand, rescued them from that line of questioning by asking, "Can you tell us how it went today? We worked so hard to pull it off--did it work?"

So Shin-Ae and Yeong-Gi told the story for the second time that day, this time starting with her father's arrest (which elicited a chorus of gasps and dismayed shouts) and ending with his return home (sighs of relief and cheers).

"I knew it! You _are_ the lead in a drama!" Rika told Shin-Ae when the narrative was concluded. Shin-Ae just rolled her eyes.

Soushi asked, "So are we going to have a party to celebrate?"

Yeong-Gi and Shin-Ae looked at each other and stated firmly and simultaneously, "No."

...

Later, when everyone had gotten some pastries and broken into conversations of twos and threes, Soushi beckoned Shin-Ae outside. "You got a minute?"

When the door closed behind them, she asked, "What's up?"

Soushi looked uncharacteristically serious. "I've been worried about something. You know how Kousuke knew what you were up to?"

"I mean, now that I look back, he was right, we were pretty bad about covering our tracks."

"Yeah, but I think I also screwed up. I thought he was on Yeong-Gi's side. And he was, but for a moment there I realized there was a decent chance he wasn't."

Shin-Ae squinted up at him, confused. "Sorry, what's going on?"

"It's just that I've been telling Kousuke what Yeong-Gi's been up to."

Shin-Ae grappled to understand him. "You mean you were giving away our plan to Kousuke?"

"Yeong-Gi's part. But not just that. I mean pretty much the whole time we've been friends. Kousuke told me that Yeong-Gi had gotten screwed over a bunch in the past, and he wanted me to kind of keep him in the loop so he could stop it from happening again. Without letting Yeong-Gi know. And Kousuke did help him out a few times, without Yeong-Gi realizing it, so it seemed like the right thing to do." Soushi's expression was anxious. "But now I think maybe it wasn't?"

Shin-Ae shook her head. "You should have told me before you leaked the plan, dumbass. And you need to tell Yeong-Gi too."

"But what if..."

"Look, I'm going to have to tell him you told me something. I won't tell him what it was, but I'm not having secret conversations about him without his knowledge. That's not how you start a relationship."

Soushi started chewing on his thumbnail. "Shit, I didn't think about that either. Will this screw everything up?"

"I don't know. He cares about you guys a lot."

At that moment, the door creaked open, and Yeong-Gi poked his head out. "You're missing the cupca--guys? Why the long faces?"

Shin-Ae kicked Soushi's shoe, and he blurted out, "I'm a wanker and I've been letting Kousuke know what you're up to and I just realized it was a bad thing to do and I'm a wanker and I'm sor--"

Yeong-Gi interrupted him. "You're starting to repeat yourself. Yeah, Kousuke did that with two previous sets of friends. How about stop doing it and we'll call it all good? And if he paid you anything, buy me some new headphones, mine stopped working. Now come in for cupcakes?"

Soushi walked past him into the room, asking, "Wait, I could've gotten paid?"

Shin-Ae said to Yeong-Gi, "Seems like that was less of a surprise for you than it was for me. You're sure you're ok?"

Yeong-Gi nodded. "Soushi is no match for Kousuke, so it's not totally his fault. And I'm used to it. You just found out? You were going to tell me?"

Shin-Ae nodded twice, so he flashed her a grin, grabbed her hand, pulled her into a quick kiss, and then ushered her inside.

...

That night, after Shin-Ae's eating contest with her papa, she got ready for bed and called Yeong-Gi to let him know her father had decided that he was allowed to show his face in her apartment again.

He answered, "Bollocks."

"Hi! What's that supposed to mean?"

"I didn't mean to answer, but then I did, and then I didn't want to hang up on you." His voice was shaky, as if he were shivering.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's dumb, I guess all the adrenaline or something from the day faded, and now I'm kind of a mess." His voice got muffled for a moment, as if he'd just swiped his hand across his face. "I didn't mean for you to know." 

Shin-Ae breathed silently in and out, realizing that after what she'd seen of his previous attack, she shouldn't be surprised that it would happen again after a stressful day. "Want to hear a blow-by-blow account of my eating contest with Papa?"

"Please."

Several memorable eating contest stories later, Yeong-Gi had calmed down enough to laugh heartily about the time Shin-Ae had slipped a ghost pepper into her papa's burger. After half a minute, he wheezed, "That's amazing. I want to give you due credit here--I just laughed so hard I had to wipe away a tear. But you shouldn't have told me! You've wasted a deadly prank opportunity."

"It was for a good cause!" she countered.

He was quiet for a beat too long. Just as she started to say, "Guess I should get some sleep," he said, "I think I have to tell you something."

She asked, suddenly worried, "'Have to'? What do you mean?"

He audibly took a breath and then said, "I think maybe I'm in love with you."

She covered her open mouth with her hand, thought a moment, and replied very quietly, "I think I might be in love with you too."

...

After they'd said goodnight, Shin-Ae's phone lit up again with another message from Yeong-Gi.

\- Wait a minute...

She didn't know how, but she instantly knew what he was thinking.

\- DON'T DO IT. I'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO UNSEE OR UNHEAR IT. IT'LL BE A LIFETIME OF EYE ROLLING.  
\- A lifetime? I like the sound of that.

She sighed and replied:

\- I forgive you.

Then she waited, knowing what was coming. It made her laugh when it came through anyway:

\- I love yoo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank yoo for reading! If you enjoyed the story, please leave a comment! This is my first fanfic, and I'd really appreciate hearing from you. :D


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